Nino Cerruti Pour Homme

Be still my beating heart. There is something about Nino Cerruti Pour Homme that charges me up with emotion. It smells like both radiance and depth, like a ray of light entering a dark room. It has that clean/dirty duality for which I can never get enough, but also has an urbane/rustic duality: cultured and earthy, erudite yet street smart. Its opening verdant vigor of galbanum and lentisque oils with juniper and herbal melange is like a tonic aperitif. This sets the stage for what I can best describe as an "outdoorsy" jasmine, as if growing adjacent to a swath of mugwort. It's a jasmine with light indole, a certain grassiness and wet wildness warmed by the sun. There is also the sensation of bright, golden pine sap and mimosa lightness mingling with this jasmine sillage. When it eases, NCPH has a bittersweet resinous tone, still highlighted with lemon-peppery elemi, and as it moves closer to the skin, labdanum, vetiver and musk grow more dominant. Contrary to what others claim is a notable oakmoss presence, while I do detect it, I don't regard it as a real driver of the composition here. I also find humor in this having become fetishized by vintage fragheads for what I feel are all the wrong reasons. NCPH shows restraint, it's more of measured beauty, almost bastardized by the bombast made unobtainable due to internet hype. Consequently, it took quite some time to find an affordable bottle. If fragrances like Aliage or Devin put a spring in your step, you'd really enjoy this, but, by all means, find a 7ml mini first.

Oh what I would give to be young and twenty-one again, wearing tailored Italian suits and Ferragamo shoes, all while "entranced" in what would be my all-time favorite fragrance in life--Nino Cerruti pour Homme. Yes, NCPH was my signature scent in the early 80s, but just can't seem to get this insanely incredible fragrance out of my head!!? What struck me about the fragrance then, and reflecting on it all these years later, is that this outright masterpiece has got to be the best "masculine floral" composition EVER created---all while exuding "total Italian class"!! Fairly bright florals, greens and woody notes with a captivating shiny-waxy edge; very Italian/masculine while also "nature's dirty" to boot (the dirty part was always SO intriguing to me), and impeccably well done--just doesn't sound like it all goes together famously--yet this fragrance is the standard-bearer for exactly that. I convey this simply to give those who have never had the pleasure of experiencing the OG Cerruti an idea of its truly memorable aura and standing in men's perfumery..... (Edited 3/1/23): Just HAD to share this! My two older-teenage kids who have always known my adoration of this fragrance, found a well-preserved and boxed 7ml "collector's mini 'splash' bottle" on Ebay for $50 and gifted it to me this past Christmas. Opening it with tears in my eyes, I don't know how they will ever TOP that Christmas gift!!!....I never imagined smelling it ever AGAIN! ......Keeping it just to "sniff" FOREVER!

This is one of my all time favourites on men. I like it so much I might just buy some to wear myself! But it's definitely very male, albeit not sportsy and harsh, but one of these lovely 70s men's perfumes that's complex, subtly animalic and elegant. It exudes an urbane yet sensual aura, and I don't think it's dated at all, especially not with all the current trends for more unusual animalics or leathers from Lutens, Malle or Dior exclusives. I also liked Cacharel Pour Homme, and I remember dating a Persian prince briefly back when I was about 20, who opened my eyes to what male perfume is all about, i.e. not something you splash on your shaved face that smells like toilet cleaner, but something that adds subtle allure. It's one that suits a certain outfit I think - sort of casual but expensive, jeans with an expensive white shirt - that kind of thing. A few months ago I was at a party and bumped into a male friend who was wearing this white shirt that was like a minimalist work of art (slightly unbuttoned) had he been wearing Nino I might have swooned!

Every time I wear Nino Cerruti, I wonder why I don't choose it more often. It's wonderfully fresh and invigorating at first, becoming warmer and woodier over time, very nicely balanced, neither too overbearing nor too bland, and I've yet to come across another fragrance that smells anything like it. For all its green freshness, there's something else at work here between the fruit notes and the carnation in the middle (which actually show up right away, but become more prominent over time). A woman in the office I worked in once asked what I was wearing and told me I smelled like fresh baked apple pie. I had never thought of it that way before, but sure enough --- she's right. More specifically, a fresh baked apple pie on a wooden picnic table in a meadow clearing in the midst of a forest, with the table decorated with greens, fruits and a few wildflowers, in the late morning on a warm sunny day. This is one of my all-time favorite fragrances ---- I really like it a LOT!

Fresh cut grass and the eternal spring/summer of youth. That's my memory of the smell of this. I wore it a lot in the early 80's, it was my signature fragrance and I never really had anything like another till GPH1. I was gutted when it suddenly vanished. One of my all time favourites - it's between this and the Gucci, hell they're so different I'll have both, but the Cerrutti first for the memories. One of the two fragrances I'd buy instantly if I saw it in the shops again (the other's gph1). I always kept an eye out for it, in case it reappeared - looking at reviews below it looks like it did get a reissue? (And looking at sold out listings it seems to have been available til very recently - was it like the original?)